And loan such books out in a 1-to-1 ratio, just like they would the paper book sitting in their warehouse, without paying totally atrocious licensing fees over and over. https://ebooksforus.com/
But tomorrow, Internet Archive is replying to legal arguments that libraries scanning and loaning the books they own amounts to the impact of #Napster on the #musicindustry in the ‘00s, but for publishing revenue.
…does it now?
The #RIAA even included this chart in their amicus brief, which shows how recording industry revenues plunged down by half over the years that the internet really started to happen.
(Whether that was the fault of piracy or just the fact that dinosaur record execs were plugging their ears and saying “lalala the internet doesn’t exist” is for another thread.
As is the fact that recording industry profits are higher than ever yet musicians are struggling worse than ever.)
While the tens of billions publishing is making has been at historic highs over the past several years, median author incomes, which frankly were always pathetic, have gone down over 50% since 2007.
This massive dip on the chart of author incomes (thank you #AuthorsGuild for the data!) looks an awful lot like the plunge that record labels took when, their words not ours, someone was “stealing” from them.
It seems unfair that as #publishing profits remain steady or grow, publishers are paying authors less than ever.
While suing to shut down the digital libraries we need the most in this era of book bans and censorship.
Who’s the real "Napster"?
If you love the Internet Archive like we do, show your support by heading to https://BattleForLibraries.com and by telling big publishers to leave #libraries’ rights alone and start paying authors + publishing staffs appropriately!
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